Elevator structure for crop harvesters



J I 25 5a as P INVENTOP I STANLEY E. HILL Jan. 9, 1951 s. E. HILL 2,537,187

ELEVATOR STRUCTURE FOR CROP HARVESTERS Original Filed Nov. 20, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. T 24 c ATTok/vEvs Jan. 9, 1951 2,537,187

ELEVATOR STRUCTURE FOR CROP HARVESTERS Original Filed Nov. 20, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVEN TOR STANLEY E. HILL Patented Jan. 9, 1951 .ELEVATOR..STRUCTUREJEQRUBDB HARVESTERSI Stanley 'E. HillgGlen Ellyn; Illl, assignor to neerc tfiompanyiivlolineg 111., a; cdrp'orationzuf.

. .Illiiioisioriginalapplicatibn Novembe1:'20;, 1944,, Serial No. 5643292. Divided and this'application'February- The application on which this appiication is:

is divided out of co -pending application, Serial No. 564,292, filed November 20; 1 944 and new Patent No. 23494 980- granted January 11]., rest; in which application- IEnamedas one of the joint inventorsz The invention pertains an: improved elevator-or conveyorstr-ucture for delivering harvested crops from the harvestihgmechanism of a. harvester to a receptacle; such as a wagon or other vehicletowed alongside of or" behind the harmter. It is desirable in acase" of this lsind to evenly distribute the com or other harvested crop in the wagon or other receptacle sothat thecorn does not'becomeheaped up in-a localized spot in the wagon; it being noted in this respect that com, for example; is not as fluid as'ismateriaiof a, finer nature.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide an improved structure for adjusting or varying the discharge end ofthe elevator so that the corn or otherharvest'ed crop may be optionally or selectively delivered to-various parts of the receptacle or'wa'gon. Another object relates to improved mechanism. for." accomplishing. the adjustment, a mechanism that simple c(instruction, easy to operate and very unlikely tweet; out of order. In the usual harvester the harvesting: mechanismis at: the front of a. 51113-- porting frame and the elevator is at the" rear end" and, whether. the harvester is towed behind atractor on mounted directly on. tractor, theelevator' is atla point relatively remote: fromsthe operators: station. It is anobject ofithe-xinven iionsto provide tn'reansxwhereby the; operator may control the. discharge meansontheleleratorrtrom his position. on. the operators station.

Other objects inherent. inand. encompassed by the invention. will become apparent to those skilled in the art from an examination ofv the following detailed descriptionand accompany? ing sheets of drawings whereinthere has been shown and described, by way of example, a preferred form of. thefiinvention.

In the: drawings:.

Figure. 1 is. .a. general plan view of a harvest ing. unit, showing. the relative positions of a towmg. vehicle a harvester. and-a wagon associated therewith, each of. the vehicles being illustrated in a. fragmentary fashion. for the purpose of. permitting a larger illustration of the important details of the invention;

FigureZ is a sideelevational view of the upper or discharge. portion of the. elevator;

Figure. 3 is. a. fragmentary view of, the upper 611-943, SerialNor-Bgfi'iS "a cam. (01. 198-42) portion of the? elevator with the discharge spout Figure 4- is an enlarged transverse sectional view" taken substantially on.- theline. 4-4 of. Fig-- ure': 2}- and 5 is. gfragmentarysectional view taken suhstantially'on the line 5-5 of Figured preferred embodiment of the invention disclosed herein. is illustrated and will be described in connection with a harvester of the corn picker type. It will be appreciated, however that the fundamental principles of theinvention are applicable to. the handling of other materials and. may readily be adapted to harsvesterst of. other types. Accordingly, the disclosure should be taken. as illustrative and not limiting.

The harvester unit. chosen for the purposes of illustration; and description is representative of one; of several well known types and includes a tractor l.0,., only the rear portion of which appearsin the. drawings; a harvester of the corn picker. type. H, only the right hand side of which appears in the drawings; and a. crop-receiving receptacle or vehicle in the form of a wagon l2.

only the-forward portion of. which appears in the;

. to one side of the. center line of the tractor; the

tractor wheels, indicated at M, traveling between adjacent. corn rows, identified by the lettors A, B:,., C. and D; and the picker operating on the. row D. The hitch [3 includes auxiliary or secondary hitch structure I5 to which a forwardly extending. tongue [.6 of thewagon I2 is connected. the connection being such that the wheels of the wagon straddle the row B and thebody of. the wagon. is disposed alongside the rear. portion of the. picker. II. The picker. includes. suitable. frame: structure ll carried on wheels L8 (only one of which is shown). The frame furtherincludes a rearward extension [9 whichprovides supporting. structure for a wagon elevator. or conveyor 2a which inclines upwardly and. outwardly away from. the picker frame. I! and. toward. the wagon body l2 The lower. or frame. end of the conveyor. 28- maybe. associated inthe. usual manner with. a. hopper. '2 I by means of whicllharvested. corn. is transferred from. the picking. mechanism of. the picker to the conveyor 2]] and. thence. tov the wagon l2. The upper or discharge: end of. the conveyor or elevator 20, is provided with an. adjustable spout 22, bymeans of. the corn is-deliveredto the wagon l2.

The hitch structure I3 is here shown as being of the type in which a power shaft 23 is enclosed within a tubular member 24 of the hitch. The forward end of the shaft 23 is drivingly connected to the power take-off shaft of the tractor ID, the latter part being indicated at 25. The rear end of the power shaft 23 may be associated in any suitable manner (not shown) with driving mechanism in a gear case 26 from which project a driving shaft having keyed thereto a sprocket 21. A driving chain 28 is trained about the sprocket 21 and about a sprocket keyed to a longitudinally, rearwardly extending shaft 29. The

shaft 29 serves, by means of a driving chain 30 and suitable other mechanism (not shown), to drive an endless conveyor 3! associated with the elevator 26. The conveyor 31, as is "customary,

operates to deliver material upwardly from the hopper 2| to the discharge spout 22.

The foregoing structure, apart from the improved eleVator about'tobe described, is illustrated and described here only for the purposes of presenting a background for the invention. Novel elements and combinations of the structure just described are disclosed in detail and claimed in the copending application referred to above and in other copending applications, Serial No. 794,375, filed December 29, 1947, and Serial No. 794,309, filed December 29, 1947 and now abandoned.

The main component of the elevator is an elongated casing 32 which may be described as having a generally tubular cross section (Figure 4). The upper or discharge end of the casing 32 includes, preferably a an extension thereof, swivel means for mounting the discharge spout 22 for angular or swinging movement optionally in either direction about an axis coincident with the principal axis of the casing,

swivel member 33 and a lower track or swivel member 34 (Figure 3). Each of these tracks is substantially circular in cross section, being in- This means 1 preferably takes the form of an upper track or terrupted in its circular extent at its bottom (Figure 4) and the periphery of each is such as to surround the upper end of the casing 32. The lower track 34 is rigidly, although adjustably, secured to the upper end of the casing 32 as by means of brackets 35, only one of which appears in the drawings. The adjustability provided by the mounting brackets 35 is such that the tracks 33 and 34 may be adjusted axially with respect to the casing 32. The track 33 is rigidly carried by the track 34 by a plurality of circumferentially spaced tie members 38 that extend inthe direc tion of the principal axis of the casing. The two tracks 33 and 34, tied together by the members 36, may be considered as a unitary swivel structure for the purpose of mounting the spout 22.

The discharge spout may be of any conventional construction and is here shown as made up of a plurality of sections giving the spout a U- shaped configuration, one leg of the U being associated with the casin 32 in crop-handling communication therewith and the other leg serving as a downwardly directed spout for delivering corn to the wagon !2. The leg of the spout 22 that is associated with the casing 32 is carried on the tracks 33 and 34 by means of a'pluralty of mountin means in the form of shoes 37 and 38, one series of which engages the upper or outer track 33 and another series of which engages the lower or inner track 34, the outer shoes being designated at 31 and the inner shoes at 38. Each of the shoes 31 (Figure 5) is provided with a portion 4 secured directly to the interior wall of the associated part of the discharge spout 22 and further includes a lug portion 39 which engages the inner periphery of the outer track 33. Each of the hoes 38 is similarly constructed and includes a lu portion which engages the inner periphery of the lower track 34. The interior periphery of the wall of the discharge spout 22 rides on the outer peripheries of the tracks 33 and 34 and the lug portions 39 and 40 ride on the inner peripheries of the tracks, thereby mounting the discharge spout for angula swinging movement generally about the principal axis of the casing 32. It will be seen from Figure 1 that swinging of the discharge end of the spout 22 is fore and aft with'respect to the body of the wagon l2; in other words, the spout may swing laterally from one side of the casing 32 to another side.'

A further feature of the invention is the means by which the spout may be moved as aforesaid. For this purpose the upper or discharge endportion of the elevator casing 32 carries a support or bearing 4| providing a journal on an axis parallel to the principal axis of the casing. This bearing or journal carries for rotation therein a shaft 42 which parallels the general extent. of the casing 32 and is positioned above the casing. The upper or outer end of the shaft 42 that extends through the bearing or support 4| projects to a point within the vicinity of the swivel means including the tracks 33 and 34 and is preferably provided with a rotatable operating member in the form of a sprocket 43 keyed or otherwise fixed to the shaft for rotation therewith. The general plane of the sprocket 43 lies in a plane that passes generally through the lower track 34, this plane being normal to the axis of the tracks 33 and 34 and therefore normal to the axis of rotation of the shaft 42. The sprocket 43 is connected to the discharge spout by flexible operating means including preferably a roller chain 44 connected at one end, as at 45, to one side of the discharge spout and at its other end, at 46, to the other side of the discharge spout. The intermediate portion of the chain 44 is trained about the sprocket 43 and in mesh with the teeth thereof. The 0011-. necting portions 45 and 46 are at substantially diametrically opposed portions of the part of the discharge spout that is coaxial with the tracksv 33 and 34, so that rotation of the shaft 42 will effect rotation of the sprocket 43 and consequently effect rocking or swinging of the spout 22 about the axis of the tracks or swivel means 33-.34. The location of the sprocket 43 generally inthe plane of the inner track 34, as aforesaid; provides that forces transmitted by the chain 44 to the discharge spout 22 will be taken substantially directly by the track 34 and will preclude tilting or cooking of the spout 22 in such manner as to bind the swivel means. 'A still further feature of the invention'is the means by which the adjustment of the spout 22 is controlled from a point remote from the spout; in this case, from a point atthe operators station on the tractor Ill. The operators station is here designated by the numeral 4'? and repre sents the seat on the tractor. In so far as the present invention is concerned, the operator's station may be mounted either on the tractor or on the harvester.

The shaft 42 extends longitudinally of the casing 32 from the upper end thereof to the lower or frame end and at the latter end is connected 'to gearing (not shown, but preferably a worm gear device) contained in a gear casing 48 from which extends a forwardly extending shaft 49. This shaft has at the forward end thereof a universal joint connection 59 with a relatively long forwardly extending control means or shaft 5|, the forward end of which is cranked at 52 and in proximity to the operators station 47, whereby the crank end is within easy reach of an operator on the tractor seat. A support 53 is carried by the hitch structure [3 and provides means for carrying the forward portion of the control shaft 5|.

In the operation of the structure just described, it is merely necessary for the operator to reach behind him and turn the crank 52 to rotate the control shaft 5|, rotation of which is transmitted to the universal joint 50 and shaft 49 to the operating shaft 112, and thence through the chain 44 to the discharge spout 22. The operator may optionally rotate the shaft 5| in either direction, thereby obtaining swinging of, the spout 22 in either direction to thereby distribute the delivery of corn to the wagon I2 at longitudinally spaced points in the wagon. The connection of the lower end of the shaft 42 to the control shaft 5! at the lower portion of the elevator 20 eliminates undesirable changes in the positions of the parts that might occur were the control shaft 5| connected directly to the upper end portion of the elevator 20.

Other objects and desirable features of the invention will undoubtedly occur to those skilled in the art, the most important of these objects and features having been set forth above. Likewise, certain modifications and alterations in the preferred form of the invention illustrated will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, not desired to limit the invention by the precise details of construction illustrated and described.

What is claimed is:

1. A crop-handling elevator for a harvester or the like having a supporting frame, comprising an elongated elevator casing inclining upwardly away from the frame and having its upper end provided as a discharge portion; swivel means carried by the casing at its discharge portion and including a pair of coaxially spaced apart, generally circular members positioned at the discharge portion of the casing substantially as a continuation of said discharge portion and generally coaxial with the discharge portion as respects the principal axis of the casing; means securing one of the swivel members to the discharge portion, and means securing the other of the swivel members to said one swivel member; a discharge spout positioned generally as a continuation of the casingin crop-handling communication therewith, and means cooperating with the swivel members to mount the spout on the casing for swinging of said spout optionally in either direction with respect to the casing about the axis of the swivel means; a support carried by the casing at its discharge portion and providing a bearing the axis of which generally parallels the swivel axis; an operating member journaled in the bearing for angular movement optionally in either direction; means for moving the member angularly; said member including a portion in the vicinity of the discharge spout; and a flexible element engaged at one portion thereof with one side of the discharge spout, trained about the aforesaid member portion, and engaged at another portion thereof With the opposite side of the discharge spout.

2. The invention defined in claim 1, further characterized in that: the means mounting the discharge spout on the swivel means includes a plurality of shoes carried by an interior portion of the discharge spout and slidably engaging one of the circular members so that the spout may ride angularly in either direction on said member as aforesaid.

3. The invention defined in claim 2 further characterized in that: the portion of the operating member in the vicinity of the discharge spout is substantially in a plane normal to the axis of the swivel means and through the circular member on which said shoes ride so that force transmitted by said flexible element is taken substantially by said circular member and the shoes.

STANLEY E. HILL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 597,275 Erickson Jan. 11, 1898 648,741 Hartley May 1, 1900 894,419 Bennett July 28, 1908 1,031,777 Emtman July 9, 1912 1,459,463 Bobeldyk June 19, 1923 1,793,231 Thiemann Mar. 31, 1931 1,800,920 Wilson Apr. 14, 1931 2,111,400 Ledig Mar. 15, 1938 

